Neighbourhoods shape economic and life outcomes. Existing research relies on selective residential moves to identify neighbourhood effects. We study these effects using a plausibly exogenous change in composition induced by the Rotterdam Wet, a policy barring workless individuals with less than six years of residency in the region from moving into selected disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
- Speaker
- Date
- Monday 23 Mar 2026, 11:30 - 12:30
- Type
- Seminar
- Room
- T3-13
- Building
- Mandeville Building
The policy also displaced targeted areas' residents meeting the work and tenure criteria at lease renewal. In targeted neighbourhoods, the policy led to a persistent increase in the share of employed residents and a decrease in welfare recipiency and criminal involvement, driven by changes in the type of entrants. We observe a behavioural response among incumbent residents, who increase their employment, decrease their welfare participation and criminal behaviour.
Exploiting the sharp discontinuity in policy applicability at the six-year residency threshold, we show that incumbent residents react to the displacement threat by exiting welfare and informal work to take up formal employment. Future analyses exploiting street-level data will establish the role of local peer composition on labour outcomes and criminal offences.
Registration
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